Human-Centered Design for Mining Equipment and New Technology

Book excerpt: Human-Centered Design for Mining Equipment and New Technology first introduces Human-Centered Design (HCD) and outlines the benefits of this approach for mining equipment and new technology: HCD is a process that aims to make equipment and systems more usable and acceptable by explicitly focusing on the end-user, their tasks and their work environment/use context. The book outlines three linked areas of mining HCD: key principles, examples of design processes, and what kinds of tools for data collection and evaluation are available. The possible future uses of Human-Centered Design in more fully automated mining are presented, and the role of HCD within wider human system integration are outlined. The ‘how to’ nature of this book makes it attractive to mining equipment manufacturers, technology developers, mine site personnel, human factors researchers, safety scientists and regulators. Features: Includes an introduction useful to anyone wanting to learn about the field Provides extensive case studies of HCD which also show failures when HCD was not considered Covers cutting edge mining technology- such as proximity detection devices and new mining automation systems Directly outlines the benefits of HCD for the minerals industry Human-Centered Design for Mining Equipment and New Technology, through case studies, provides a much needed guide to undertaking HCD for mining equipment and new technology.